Thomas Mower Martin emigrated in 1862 from England to Toronto. As an artist, he was largely self-taught. While in Canada, Mower Martin would frequently take trips to the United States to exhibit his work and to carry out private commissions for individual patrons.

He was a vital supporter of artist’s communities in Canada, becoming a founding member of many well-known Canadian art societies such as The Ontario Society of Artists and The Ontario Art Union. His themes focus on portraiture, landscape and animals in nature. He was versed in both watercolour and oil painting techniques and was one of the artists commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railway to document the Western expansion of the country.

One of his most well received works internationally is entitled “The Untouched Wilderness”, painted for Queen Victoria of England in 1882, which now hangs in Windsor Castle.